ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips is an "international, integrated energy company. It is the third largest integrated energy company in the United States, based on market capitalization, and oil and gas reserves and production. Worldwide it is the sixth largest publicly owned energy company, based on oil and gas reserves, and the fifth largest refiner."

"Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips operates in more than 40 countries. The company has approximately 38,700 employees worldwide and assets of $173 billion. ConocoPhillips stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol COP."

In 2002, Conoco merged with Phillips. In 2000, Phillips had acquired ARCO’s Alaska crude oil holdings and in 2001 it purchased Tosco—the largest independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products in the U.S. at the time.

Today, CP is the biggest natural-gas producer in North America thanks to its acquisition of Burlington Resources in 2005. It's the No. 2 oil refiner in the U.S. behind BP. Its global oil reserves are 5.7 billion (making it 4th among the large publicly traded oil companies). 2007 profits were $11.9 billion, down from 2006 because of the nationalization of its oil holdings in VZ.

Overview
ConocoPhillips has "four core activities" worldwide:

ConocoPhillips is known worldwide for its technological expertise in deepwater exploration and production, reservoir management and exploitation, 3-D seismic, high-grade petroleum coke upgrading and sulfur removal. In addition, the company has two emerging businesses under development which hold significant future potential - natural gas refining and power generation.
 * Petroleum exploration and production.
 * Petroleum refining, marketing, supply and transportation.
 * Natural gas gathering, processing and marketing, including a 30.3 percent interest in Duke Energy Field Services.
 * Chemicals and plastics production and distribution through a 50 percent interest in Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

US Expansion Plans
Plans $7 billion in downstream investments from 2008-2013 to boost processing of cheaper types of crude oil by 5 percent, or 365,000 barrels per day. The projects are designed to better refine sulphur diesel and jet fuel from less expensive but difficult to refine heavy sour crudes and Canadian oil sands. 

Refineries

 * Borger, TX – currently refining Canadian tar sand crude.
 * Billings, MT – currently refining Canadian tar sand crude.
 * Ponca City, OK – may be refining Canadian tar sands.
 * Wood River, IL - currently refining Canadian tar sand crude

Environment
"ConocoPhillips, in a well-publicized partnership with food giant Tyson to manufacture alternative fuels from animal fats, abruptly halted their plans last year when these initiatives failed to receive Federal subsidies."

Tar Sand Production, Transporting, Refining
ConocoPhillips owns 9.03% of the joint venture, Syncrude with ExxonMobil, Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Murphy Oil, Mocal Energy, Nexen Inc., and Petro-Canada.

In 2003, ConocoPhillips began its Alberta Surmont oil sands project. Construction began in 2004, and production in 2006.

On October 5, 2006, ConocoPhillips publicly announced the formation of a joint venture with EnCana Corporation to create an integrated North American heavy-oil business. The venture consists of two 50/50 business ventures—a Canadian upstream general partnership, FCCL Oil Sands Partnership, and a U.S. downstream limited liability company, WRB Refining LLC. According to the press release, “JPMorgan Chase acted as advisor to ConocoPhillips on this transaction, and Credit Suisse acted as advisor to EnCana.”

FCCL Oil Sands Partnership (FCCL)—50 percent owned business venture with EnCana—produces heavy-oil in the Athabasca oil sands in northeast Alberta, as well as transports and sells the bitumen blend. WRB Refining LLC (WRB)—50 percent owned business venture with EnCana—processes crude oil at the Wood River and Borger refineries, as well as purchases and transports all feedstocks for the refineries and sells the refined products.

Keystone Oil Pipeline
In December 2007, CP acquired a 50 percent equity interest in the Keystone Pipeline to form a 50/50 joint venture with TransCanada Corporation. Construction began on the pipeline in 2008. Original plans were to construct a crude oil pipeline originating in Hardisty, Alberta, with delivery points at Wood River and Patoka, Illinois, and Cushing, Oklahoma.

Political contributions
ConocoPhillips gave $313,000 to federal candidates in the 05/06 election cycle through its political action committee (PAC) - 9% to Democrats, 90% to Republicans, and 1% to other parties.

Lobbying
"A senior Justice Department official who recently resigned her post bought a nearly $1 million vacation home with a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips months before approving consent decrees that would give the oil company more time to pay millions of dollars in fines and meet pollution-cleanup rules at some of its refineries," reported the Washington Post in February 2007. The official, former assistant attorney general on environment and natural resources issues Sue Ellen Wooldridge, "bought a $980,000 home on Kiawah Island, S.C., last March with ConocoPhillips lobbyist Don R. Duncan. A third owner of the house is J. Steven Griles, a former deputy interior secretary, who has been informed he is a target in the federal investigation of Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities." 

The company spent $1,918,291 for lobbying in 2006. $140,000 of this total went to an outside lobbying firm Hunton & Williams.

Personnel
Executives and 2006 pay:
 * James J. Mulva, Chief Executive Officer, $31,340,00
 * William B. Berry, Divisional Executive Vice President, $5,790,641
 * John A. Carrig, Chief Financial Officer, $11,682,435
 * James L. Gallogly, Divisional Executive Vice President, $4,169,688

Board of Directors:
 * Richard L. Armitage, President of Armitage International LLC
 * Richard H. Auchinleck, Former President and CEO of Gulf Canada Resources Limited
 * Norman R. Augustine, Chairman of Executive Committee of Board of Directors, Lockheed Martin Corporation
 * James E. Copeland, Jr., Former Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
 * Kenneth M. Duberstein, Chairman and CEO of the The Duberstein Group
 * Ruth R. Harkin, Former Senior VP International Affairs and Government Relations for United Technologies Corporation
 * Charles C. Krulak, Former Chairman and CEO of MBNA Europe Bank Limited
 * Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies
 * J. J. Mulva, Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips
 * Harald Norvik, Chairman and Partner of Econ Management AS
 * William K. Reilly, President and CEO of Aqua International Partners
 * William R. Rhodes, Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup, Inc.
 * J. Stapleton Roy, Managing Director of Kissinger Associates, Inc.
 * Bobby S. Shackouls, Former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Burlington Resources Inc.
 * Victoria J. Tschinkel, Former Director of the Florida Nature Conservancy
 * Kathryn C. Turner, Chairperson and CEO of Standard Technology, Inc.
 * William E. Wade, Jr., Former President of Atlantic Richfield Company

Contact information
P.O. Box 2197 Houston, TX 77252-2197 Phone: (281) 293-1000 Web: http://www.conocophillips.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Alaska's Future
 * Oil industry
 * Rodney J. MacAlister
 * Archie W. Dunham - former chair

External articles

 * Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi, "Justice Official Bought Vacation Home With Oil Lobbyist," Washington Post, February 15, 2007.